End users obtain great insight into network operations by using network analytics to analyze and understand network metrics. In particular, network analytics can be used to quantify an end-user's experience interacting with a network. Network analytics can also be used to troubleshoot network problems, plan for network capacity, monitor applications and intelligently implement business strategies. Accomplishing these tasks can include using a network analytics system to do the following: collect network information; analyze network information; and report application data.
In many ways, implementing a network analytics solution within a heterogeneous network environment can be difficult. Endpoints of a network are often not the same device and out-of-band devices can create network topology challenges. Existing analytics solutions comprise products that do not scale to large and small network configurations. Scaling existing solutions to different network configurations can be costly and introduce inefficiencies into the system. Furthermore, challenges are posed by encrypted traffic that present the need to manage certifications and encryption keys often issued from a range of security schemes.